More than one thousand job applicants trooped the Local Employment Job Fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), in partnership with the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and ABS-CBN Regional Office of the typhoon-hit city. The job fair was conducted at the DOLE-Tacloban City Compound on 20 February 2014.

“I owned a small business before and Yolanda came and washed it all away,” shared Nathaniel Bertomen, “I am thankful to DOLE for organizing job fairs like this in the region

(Eastern Visayas), especially in Tacloban City. Taclobanons very much need these employment opportunities as we stand up from the calamity we have experienced.”

The Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), DOLE-Eastern Visayas, and PESO Tacloban City, provided evaluation and job-matching assistance to 1,132 job applicants who registered through the Skills Registry System (SRS). The SRS is a repository of computerized information on available manpower and their corresponding skills and is one of the major sub-systems of the Phil-Job.Net, the government’s official labor market information portal. The SRS is used for manpower development and employment promotion, particularly on job-skill matching and placement for local and overseas employment, and livelihood, entrepreneurial and enterprise development.

Most of the job vacancies offered are based in the Visayas region. Also, there are vacancies offered in Region 11 (Davao) and National Capital Region. DSWD-Tacloban City and MDC offered the most with 1,832 and 619 job vacancies, respectively. The former’s vacancies for Community Facilitator position based in the region have a total of 1,280.

Lovely Maceda who was hired by Kudo Support, Inc., Cebu City as Customer Support Representative said, “I believe local employment opportunities are what the Taclobanons need right now. We just lost loved ones and properties. I know my family could not manage having me deployed in a considerably distant working place. (Kudo Support, Inc.) Cebu City is great as I’m just a few hours away from them.”

“We hope that we are able to help Tacloban’s jobseekers by offering our job vacancies directly to them,” said Michael Martinez, Director of Operations, Kudo Support, Inc., and continued, “We are also helping our HOTS, and soon our other qualified applicants, in preparing their pre-employment requirements so they can start soon.”

Kudos Support, Inc. hired the most number in the job fair. Out of the 54 HOTS during the job fair, Kudos hired 30 who were placed in job positions like Customer Support Representative (Voice and Chat), and IT Support Officer.

The consolidated data from the participating employers reported a total of 1,567 job applicants who were interviewed. In addition, 579 and 272 of which are assessed as qualified and are for further interview, respectively. These job applicants may be hired or placed depending on the outcome of the examinations and interviews, and pre-employment requirements set by the companies’ respective hiring protocols.

Regional Director Exequiel R. Sarcauga, DOLE-Eastern Visayas expressed his gratitude to the partner-agencies and organizations, and participating employers in the job fair. “I hope that in the next job fair, particularly in the other areas hit by calamities last year, many employers could participate. They bring hope to jobseekers especially like these displaced ones in Tacloban,” he said.

DOLE has conducted a Mega Job Fair in the Leyte Normal University Compound in the city last 22 January 2014, with more than 2 thousand registered job applicants. Another job fair set to offer overseas employment opportunities is scheduled to be conducted in Guian town of the bordering Samar province in April.

“The DOLE, with the leadership of Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, will continue its effort and initiative to respond to special needs of jobseekers and employers in the hard-hit areas of the typhoon. We will provide you with regular updates as to the programs available and procedures necessary to access the support we offer. We are here for you and our utmost priority right now is to help Tacloban move forward,” he ended.

Tacloban in the province of Leyte is one of the areas extremely hit byTyphoon Yolanda in November 2013, causing massive destruction across the city.